| We'd see more back problems as players walked home with more of these |
They go on to say that without the cap, we'd have Kovalchuk and Ovechkin flanking Crosby in Pittsburgh, IF they could compete with the 'powerhouse' teams with all that cash, like the Rangers, Avalanche, Red Wings. Hell maybe even the Leafs could put together a team..(wait..they're...undefeated??) and the league wide competition that we have now become accustomed to would vanish like Joe Thorton in April.
Has the cap hurt the league? Well no. as it hurt individual teams? Obviously. We saw that first had as Chicago had its still beating heart ripped out last summer. The Cup Champs weren't even champs for 24 hours before the media started talking about who would stay and who would go. Dynasty hasn't been a word we've uttered in quite a long time, and as of recently, Detroit would be the only team you could even come close to attaching said label to. (and even that's stretching the definition)
From personal experience as an Avalanche fan, and as many other Avs fans can attest to, the cap initially hurt us the most. We were raised as the spoiled kids on the block. Daddy never said 'no' to us. We kept winning and Uncle Stan kept writing the cheques to make sure we stayed there. (Some would say we 'bought' our way the 2001 Stanley Cup, but that's just bull. I will argue anyone any day on this topic, and they will be sent home in tears.) As we came out of the lockout, the Avs lost a couple of big names in Rob Blake and Peter Forsberg, and some would say, that was the beginning of the end. As we learned to become accustomed to less 'big names' wearing the Burgundy and Blue, we also embraced the youth. The road ahead looks bright, do we thank the cap for that? Can we honestly say that we would have seen runs from teams like Ottawa or Edmonton if there was no 'league wide parady?'
Now lets say we never had a salary cap. Would we see the rise of young stars such as Steven Stamkos, Matt Duchene or Chris Stewart? or would we still see Brendan Shanahan, Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Lindstrom lifting cup after cup one season to the next? Would young stars not named Sid or Alex even get a shot at big minutes?
Now, for John Q Casual fan, he/she is going to want POWERHOUSE teams where if you have the dough, you'll burn though it, which doesn't always work. (see Rangers, New York - 2000-2004) but you would see a 'Kurri' to Crosby's 'Gretzky' (which I totally thought would be Marian Hossa) and all would be right in the Land of Old NHL. Would we even see a team with the likes Sid, Alex and Evgeni Malkin? Would we go back to the 'Have' and 'Have Not' teams of yesteryear?
Back to the present. (and they mentioned this in the PD write up as well) does the cap hinder teams from being totally awesome? As the article said, we COULD see Crosby play with TRUE superstars such as we did at the Olympics, with Jarome 'Joe Sakic Saved My Career' Iginla and Eric 'They finally found someone else to play with Crosby' Staal. Instead, he's been 'burdened' with Chris Kunitz (who has an 'A' which was news to me) and Pascal Dupuis (the only part left of the Hossa trade.) GM Ray Shero, as we've seen in the past, isn't afraid to pull the trigger on trades. (remember that Avs fans? I miss Pierre Lacroix so) I'd put money on the fact that IF Sid's struggles continue, they'll find him an 'equivalent' winger that isn't Malkin but someone else who will play at the same level as him, who isn't just along for the ride and without taking Geno off the second line.*
*please come back Jordan Staal.
Now to the point of all this. Do I like the salary cap? At the end of the day, I'll take it over watching fucking Detroit load up and run the table year after year. I don't really understand how people can pour over sites such as Cap Geek. I could honestly give two shits about how much the Islanders are STILL paying Alexi Yashin NOT to play for them. (ok, it's still funny) (and it's 4.7 mil) I also hate Corsi, but that will have to wait for another post.
- Jaye
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